Over the weekend, Dan Provenzano and the crew at Hive76 fused mini-Dewalt saws, toy car wheels, kitchen pans, and remote control airplane motors to concoct a half dozen combat robots.
You know, just a lazy couple of days building killer robots.
Their work was all in preparation for the hackerspace’s Combat Robotics Demo Night, held Tuesday at their headquarters in their largely artist-inhabited loft studio at 9th and Spring Garden in Callowhill. The combat robots are just one in a collection of cool toys always springing up from their hobbyist members.
“The sport is so new we had to adapt parts from other fields and combine sets,” says Provenzano.

Hive76 member and robot enthusiast Brendan Schrader showing off his combat robots to one of the many young attendees at the hackerspace’s open house robot night.
The demo night was a primer for a class Hive76 plans to host later this summer on how to build the machines. In addition, Hive76 will host a music hack night on Thursday as a part of Philly Tech Week.
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